Clemson freshman QB puts pressure on Kelly Bryant for starting job
Clemson could have an interesting quarterback competition on their hands after the way things looked at their spring game on Saturday.
Freshman Trevor Lawrence played well in the Orange and White game. He passed for 122 yards and a touchdown on 11 off 16 passing. Lawrence was ranked as a five-star recruit and the No. 1 player by a few recruiting services. He broke previous Clemson star Deshaun Watson’s state records for passing yards and touchdowns in Georgia.
Incumbent starter Kelly Bryant was 8-of-15 for 35 yards.
Based on what he did last season, Tigers coach Dabo Swinney still has Bryant as the team’s starter — for now.
“He’s still at this point No. 1 if we played today. But when we came into spring that was an easy statement to say because we’ve gotta start somewhere,” Swinney said Saturday via The State’s Matt Connolly. “Kelly has had a really good spring, but those guys behind him have had a great spring as well. … If we played today Kelly would run out there, but we don’t play today. We play in September. Everything counts, and I expect these guys to continue to compete with everything that they’ve got.”
With several months to go before the start of the season, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Lawrence surpass Bryant on the depth chart. The team mostly succeeded under Bryant last year, but they could use someone who offers greater upside.
